‘I was shocked. I was amazed.’ A basketball full of memories mystery has been solved
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IDAHO FALLS — A months-long mystery has been solved with the help of a local police department, East Idaho News, online commenters and surrounding communities.
Last year in August, Gary Allan, who works at the front desk at the Idaho Falls Police Department, was given a signed basketball.
He said someone had found it along Sunnyside Road in Idaho Falls and turned it in to him. Ever since then, he has been searching for the owner.
It isn’t just any basketball.
It was signed “Ron Dodson Coach of the Year. Thanks for the memories” and had the years ’90 to ’94 on it. The ball was still in perfect condition.
“I felt that this memory that was given to him by his players, something like this, can be worth a lot, and he would like to probably have it back,” Allan had said in a previous interview.
After EastIdahoNews.com posted about the lost ball in February, readers commented as they researched who Ron Dodson might be.
“There were comments on the story. But there was one that mentioned that back in ’94, the Daily Herald did a story on him and the team going to an AAU tournament,” Allan said. “So I took that information and tried to find what I could.”
He called the Daily Herald, based in Provo, Utah, and spoke with a sports editor about the story, trying to find out more information.
Later, Allan got a phone call.
“It was Randy Dodson, (Ron’s) son. I found out that Ron was living in St. George, Utah and retired. They don’t know how the ball got lost. It sort of just disappeared,” Allan said.
Allan then shipped the basketball off to Utah at the end of February along with some Idaho Falls Police Department souvenirs like a police patch.
Randy received it and brought it to his father. He took a picture of his dad holding the basketball and sent it to EastIdahoNews.com.
“Thank you so much for your interest, along with Mr. Allan’s, in returning the ball to him,” Randy said in an email to EastIdahoNews.com. “Many thanks for all you have done. He was very happy to hear all the details.”
Ron Dodson is 86 years old now and was surprised to hear about the basketball.
During the time he was given the ball by his team, he was in his 50s.
“I was shocked. I was amazed. The people that were all involved in this…some mystery person who found it and took it to the police department. That’s a keepsake,” Dodson said.
Dodson says he has spent summers in Idaho Falls. He’s taken the ball with him to different places he’s traveled to but isn’t sure how it ended up where it did.
According to the Daily Herald newspaper article that Allan had referenced, written by Dick Harmon, titled “Local man in heaven with all-stars,” it details part of Dodson’s life. It was published on July 14, 1994.
The article says Dodson was in retirement heaven and found a second life in his hobby of coaching amateur basketball. That summer, Dodson had an AAU 17-and-under team.
His son Randy is quoted saying, “Deep down, he’d rather coach than anything.”
Dodson was a former CEO of Psychiatric Institutes of America and past president of BYU’s Cougar Club.
The article talks about specific players on his team like the “best player on Dodson’s Utah team is Highland High’s 5A MVP Todd Christensen, a 6-foot-1 guard.” Brent Moore from Ogden is mentioned along with Dustin Pearce, all people who signed the basketball given to Dodson decades ago.
“We had great summers. I mostly had the same guys every year, and so the last year we finished playing, the team surprised me and gave me that ball, and they all signed it,” he told EastIdahoNews.com.
He received a letter from the Idaho Falls Police Department when his ball was returned. “Mr. Dodson, we are thrilled to reconnect you with your coach of the year ball… We hope you enjoy it for years to come,” Dodson read out loud.
He is grateful and said it is currently sitting in his chair where he can see it every day.
“It’s not going to get lost again, I’ll tell ya!” he said, laughing. “This is bringing up a lot of memories. I always loved the sport.”
As for Allan, he said it was worth the effort of holding onto the basketball for that long in hopes of finding Dodson.
“I am very happy that he got it back! It’s memories part of his life and so now that he has that back, it just makes me and a lot of people around here at the police station very happy that he received it again,” Allan said. “We don’t give up. We try to return what we can.”
Click below to read the Daily Herald article.
